Heat-Haze Days
by YumiStar
Summary: "Want to try again?" First Danny Phantom story. It's a Badger Cereal, (Vald and Danny Friendship), story, but can be seen as Pompous Pep as well.


**Hey, everyone! This is a repost of a story from my _Archive of our Own_ , or _A03_ , that I had done on my phone. So I figured, why not post it on since I have my own internet now?**

 **Also, yes-I did in fact write this stories version of the song. :)**

 **Disclaimer:** _I do not own Danny Phantom or Kagerou Project/Daze. They belong to Butch Hartman and Jin respectively. I only own the lyrics in the story, and just barely._

 **Warnings:** _Blood and death, psychological pain, god damn time loops!_

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **~Somewhere in Amity Park~**

 **+August xxth xx:xx P.M.+**

 _"No, no! Don't die on me, Daniel! No…nononono…"_

 _Regardless of what Vlad says, Danny's prone figure lays motionless in his arms, bleeding out blood and ectoplasm. Suddenly, a strange red figure appears, and chuckles coldly-_

 ** _"Wanna try again?"_**

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **~Amity Park-Vlad's Mansion~**

 **+August 15th 11:30 A.M.+**

"Ah…I slept in…" spoke Vlad Masters, the multi-billionaire and Mayor of Amity Park, as he slowly awoke. Stretching out the sleep kinks, he grabbed his phone, noticing the time:

11:32 A.M. August 15th.

"Mmm…I must of worked too late last night," he simply murmured. He quickly showered and threw on some casual, if a bit expensive, clothes. A light red t-shirt, with a simple black swirl design at the collar, dark navy jeans, black strap sandals and a silver wrist watch on his right wrist. Pocketing his phone and putting his hair in a low lose pony-tail, (since it was pretty hot that day), he left his home and just wandered around the town.

 **~Amity Park-AP Park~**

 **+August 15th 12:25 P.M.+**

 _'Ah…there's young Daniel…'_ Vlad thought, seeing Danny sitting on a swing set. He wore a red t-shirt under a pair of blue overalls with a white front pocket, with a red oval, red wrist bands and short white socks with his usual red and white sneakers; he was also petting a black cat in his lap. Vlad chuckled, while walking to the swing set, Danny looking up at him in surprise.

"Vlad?" Danny asked in confusion, seeing the man's…normal clothing.

"Hello, little badger," Vlad simply replied, sitting in the swing to Danny's left, "How's your summer been?"

"Ah…it's been okay, I guess…" Danny replied, simply continuing to pet the black cat, "I guess it would of been better, if Sam and Tucker were here…"

"Family trip?" Vlad asked, while tacking his phone out to check the time: 12:30 P.M.

Danny chuckled, while replying, "Heh, yeah. Family trip…well, that's the case for Tucker…Sam is with her parents at a _'Family Counseling Cruise,'_ probably to get her to stop being who she is."

"Ouch…" Vlad replied, while blocking out the sun.

 _On the day of August 15th at 12:30 in the afternoon,_

 _It was a nice day;_

 _And through the ill-inducing rays of heat of summer,_

 _You and me talked without any anger;_

"But…" Danny began, getting Vlad's attention and a upset look began to appear on his face.

 ** _"But hey Vlad, I kinda hate summer,"_**

 _You said with an upset scowl, while petting a stray cat;_

"Really? I thought you would like it, since you get to sleep in and goof off…" Vlad replied, while smirking. Danny blinked, while laughing, before replying, "Well, I guess that's true!"

"Hmm, it is kinda hot today, though" Vlad said, while getting up, "How about we go get some ice-cream?"

"Sure," Danny replied, while getting up with the cat still in his arms. Vlad and he began to walk out of the park, heading towards the nearest ice-cream parlor. Suddenly, the black cat jumped out of Danny's arms and sprinted across the park.

"Ah, _wait_! Come back, Shadow!" Danny said, while giving chase, having already named the cat. Vlad smiled, while jogging to keep up.

 _Ah, and as the cat ran away from you,_

Suddenly, Danny chased the cat into the street, but the light for crossing had already changed from **'WALK'** to **'DON'T WALK'**. He and Vlad, who had just got to the curb, noticed too late and the speeding truck came down the road…

 _You went after it, not seeing the light turn from green to red into the very busy street_

Danny screamed in fright, as the truck hit him head on, his slightly green-red blood spraying onto Vlad…who could only stare in mute shock.

Danny was dead.

Dead…

"Ah…ah… **AHHHHHHHH!"** Vlad screamed, chocking and almost puking, from the smell of blood and ectoplasm everywhere.

 _A truck came out of nowhere and struck you, as you frightingly screamed,_

 _Your scent now mingled with blood and ectoplasm started to choke me;_

 **"NO, NO,NO!** This _isn't_ happening! **THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!"** Vlad screamed, kneeling on the sidewalk, not hearing the screams and shouts of panic around him. Suddenly, he heard a cold laugh; looking up, Vlad stared, in shocked, seeing a completely red him, looking at him and the scene as some game.

 _In the heating haze of lies, the red haze laughed,_

 ** _"Everything is real!"_**

 **"Oh dear, seems he died again,"** the red Vlad simply stated, while smirking, **"Want to try again?"**

"W-wait? A-again?" Vlad stuttered out, before his vision began to go black. The red Vlad simply chuckled out, **"Better luck, next time."**

 _Just like a cicada's sound being silenced,_

Then Vlad saw nothing.

 _The summer's light-blue darkened away;_

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **~Amity Park-Vlad's Mansion~**

 **+August 14th 12:00 A.M.+**

 **"AH!"** Vlad gasped, snapping his eyes open, while still lying in bed…

Wait…

 _'Bed? Then it was just a nightmare?'_ Vlad thought, while looking at the softly ticking clock on his wall, or at least…where he heard the sound.

 _I awoke with a start upon my bed to a soft-ticking clock;_

 ** _"What time is it now?"_**

Vlad asked himself, not really wanting to get up right away. He saw his phone close by and picked it up:

August 14th, 12:04 A.M.

"Mm…I guess I can sleep a bit more…" Vlad said to himself, while putting his phone down, drifting off to the sound of a summer cicada…

 _'Why does it sound so familiar?'_ he thought, while sleeping again.

 _On the day of August 14th, sometime past 12 in the morning,_

 _I recalled the sound of a summer cicada;_

 **~Amity Park-Amity Park-Park~**

 **+August 14th 12:25 P.M.+**

 _'…deja vu?'_ Vlad thought, as he saw Danny dressed in the same clothing in his dream. And sitting on the park swing…petting a black cat.

"Hey…little badger," Vlad, getting more confused and worried by the minute. It was just like his dream, way too much.

"Vlad?" Danny asked in confusion, seeing the man in normal clothing. Vlad sat to Danny's left on the swing, still looking un-sure.

"How's has your…summer been?" Vlad asked.

"Ah…it's been okay, I guess," Danny replied, while still petting the black cat, "I guess it would of been better, if Sam and Tucker we're here…"

"I…see…" Vlad replied, while his brow furrowed in confusion and anxiety.

 _'It's just like my…dream'_ Vlad thought, wondering if it was a dream now…

 _But y'know; this is kinda strange,_

 _I had a dream with us talking in this exact same spot;_

"Vlad? You okay?" Danny asked worryingly to Vlad. Vlad snapped out of his thoughts, while looking at Danny's worried expression.

"Yeah…it's just a bit hot…" Vlad simply replied, while getting up. Danny followed suit, while still holding the black cat and said to the man, "How about we go get ice-cream, then?"

"Sure…" Vlad replied, while following the retreating Danny. However, the black cat suddenly jumped out of Danny's arms. Vlad saw flashes of his _'dream'_ and grabbed Danny's arm, before he went after the cat.

"Vlad?" Danny asked in confusion, looking at said man with a matching look of said emotion.

"We…" Vlad began, still looking upset about the flashes of his dream…

 ** _"Maybe~We should go now…"_**

"…alright" Danny replied, following Vlad out of the park and away from the road. However, while walking on the sidewalk, nearing a construction site, everyone gasped, while looking up in fright.

"Eh…what's everyone shocked about?" Vlad asked, looking around in confusion.

"…" Danny was silent to Vlad's question.

 _However, the minute we left the path,_

 _Everyone screamed and began to point towards the sky;_

Danny suddenly pushed Vlad back, while stepping forward. After gaining his balance, Vlad looked towards Danny, about to ask what the butter fritters that was for…

Until he saw one of the construction beams pierce right through the boy's chest. He could only cough up blood mingled with ectoplasm and laid limply on the ground-he only managed to scream once, when the beam had pierced through him.

 _A metal beam dropped from nowhere and pierced your body straight through,_

 _The sound of your silent screams echoed into the spaces of the world;_

"Ah… **AH! DANIEL!"** Vlad screamed in anguish, not hearing the random pedestrians terrified, or shocked screams. He made his way to Danny, un-able to believe the boy was dead. However, he was stopped by the blood-red version of himself, who smirked at him in amusement;

 **"Oh, he seems to have died this time, too,"** the blood-red Vlad coldly chuckled, while pushing Vlad back away from Danny's prone form, **"How about trying again?"**

 _In this terrifying scene, the red-haze laughed,_

 ** _"All of this is real!"_**

"Wha-!? **NO! HE'S NOT DEAD!"** Vlad yelled, looking back at Danny's body and gasped. As his vision blackened, he could have sworn…

That he was _smiling_.

 _As my vision began to darken,_

 _I could of sworn that you we're painfully smiling at me…_

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **~Amity Park-Amity Park-Park~**

 **~In between the realms~**

 **+August 14th 12:45 P.M.+**

Vlad stared blank forwards, his hands upon a wall of bloody clocks. He was able to be here, after realizing that he and Danny were stuck in a loop. An endless loop, that has been happening for many decades now. _'Yes, it was on that time when I dragged Daniel away from the park in general…'_ Vlad thought. He had thought, that if they weren't in the park and somewhere else, the pier amusement park in that case, Danny wouldn't die. A collapsing amusement building said otherwise, of course.

And that's when Vlad was able to come to this void, trying to stop the events directly related to Danny's death. Though, decades later, they were still stuck in the loop; the blood-red Vlad laughing at the original Vlad's attempts.

 _Countless times now, I've blacked out to the laughing heat;_

 _This painful cycle has repeated for many decades now;_

 _'However…'_ Vlad thought, turning his blank stare at the paused scene of Danny laughing; running away from a Vlad and racing him to the ice-cream parlor…

And not seeing the speeding truck headed for him.

 _'I know what to do now…'_ Vlad thought, while walking towards the scenes Vlad.

 _There is only one ending to this tiring and clichéd story;_

 _It exists beyond this endless summer;_

 _'This is all for you, little badger'_ Vlad thought, as the frozen scene started up again.

 **~Amity Park-Amity Park-Park~**

 **~On the street~**

 **+August 14th, 12:48 P.M.+**

Vlad manages to grab Danny, and push him back onto the sidewalk.

"Vlad, wha-?" Danny asks in confusion, as Vlad smiles at him from the street, before the truck rams right into the older halfa. His blood, tinted with ectoplasm spraying every and some even landing on Danny's face, as he stared in shock.

"Wha-wha…" Danny stutters in shock, staring in Vlad's direction. The man was sprawled on the street, his arm and whole body broken.

 _I suddenly push you aside and take your place in the busy street,_

 _Your shocked eyes and my broken body reflected the bloody ectoplasm everywhere;_

Danny started to tear up, looking at Vlad in anguish, becoming sick by the bloody smell. The blood-red Vlad looked on in shock, un-able to believe what Vlad just did. As Danny began to wail in anguish, Vlad smiled, knowing that the loop ended. He only wished that it didn't cause Danny such pain, though. Looking at the vanishing blood-red Vlad, he knew he was right and just sucked up any regrets he had.

"It's over…" Vlad rasped, closing his eyes.

 _If that red-haze laughed,_

 ** _"Serves you right!"_** once again;

 _Then I guess this is what you'd call a normal summer,_

 **"You stupid fruit loop"**

Snapping his eyes open at the familiar voice, Vlad looks back at the bawling Danny…and sees a ecto-green Danny standing behind the original, looking at Vlad with emotion-less eyes.

 **"This isn't the end,"** the green Danny stated, as Vlad stared in frightened shock.

 _'Why…?'_ he thought, as his vision darkened again.

 _But something has ended today._

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **~Amity Park-Fenton Works~**

 **+August 14th, 12:30 A.M.+**

Danny opened his blue eyes, staring at the ceiling blankly. He slowly sat up, not bothering to check the time on his phone; he already knew.

August 14th.

A grey-white cat that he recently got, jumped into his lap and he began to simply pet it, tears gathering at the corners if his blank blue eyes.

 _On the day of August 14th, a raven haired boy awoke upon his bed;_

 _And silently said;_

"I-I-I," Danny stuttered out, crying silently, while still petting his cat;

 ** _"It seems I've failed this time as well…"_**

 _While softly petting a cat…_

The ecto-green Danny suddenly appeared, coldly smiling at Danny.

"He died…" Danny mumbled out, not even looking at the ecto-green Danny. Said person mockingly asked;

 **"Want to try again?"**

 **~Heat-Haze Days~**

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed my very first Danny Phantom Fanfic. R &R if you wish, I write regardless. :)**


End file.
